A retirement facility with 235 homes and a community centre with cinema, restaurant and swimming pools has been proposed for the outskirts of a hinterland town.
Tricare Communities Pty Ltd has made an application to Sunshine Coast Council to develop an over-50s community on 31.5 hectares at Newells Road, Beerwah.
A development assessment report, prepared by Project Urban on behalf of Tricare, states the land is currently occupied by three houses, open grazing land and abandoned poultry sheds.
It borders a macadamia farm to the north and five active poultry farms, each with more than 100,000 birds, to the west. The nearest poultry farm is 500m from the proposed development.
The facility would have 235 single-storey dwellings, each with space for at least one car, plus 56 visitor car parking spaces and 21 van spaces.
The communal facilities would include a two-storey community centre with a lounge, restaurant, function area, cinema, library, craft room, games room, outdoor lounges, swimming pools, gym and lawn bowls area.
Other facilities throughout the development would include pickleball courts, a dog park, barbecue areas, parks and seating.
A two-storey manager’s residence is proposed for near the site entrance.
Access would be via Newells Road, which would be upgraded to provide a two-way sealed carriageway, and the intersection with Old Landsborough Road would also be improved.
“A new footpath will be provided on the southern side of Newells Road for the full extent of this road,” the development assessment report says.
“This footpath will connect into the existing footpath network on Old Landsborough Road, which provides direct connectivity to the Beerwah activity centre.”
Residents of the proposed retirement community would also be provided with a private bus service as an alternative transport mode.
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As part of the development application, Tricare commissioned Virid IFC Pty Ltd to determine the odour impacts from the poultry farms.
“The council are concerned about adverse odour impacts on the proposed development from the poultry farm operations,” Virid’s report states.
Its modelling shows the maximum odour concentration predicted at the site boundary is 2.1 OU (odour units), which is below the allowable 2.5 OU.
“Modelling suggest that the likelihood of the proposed development site being impacted by offensive odours is very low,” it states.
The land also borders an 11-hectare section of the Glass House Mountains National Park, known as the Blue Gum Creek area, to the east.
“Landscape buffers are proposed to the northern and western rural zoned land and a 50m separation distance is provided from the dwellings to the Glass House Mountains National Park in the east,” the development assessment report says.
Tricare’s website says it has been one of the leading providers of retirement communities in Australia for the past 50 years, and is family owned and operated. On the Sunshine Coast it operates the Kawana Waters Aged Care Residence on Nicklin Way, Warana.
The Development Permit for Material Change of Use and Development Permit for Reconfiguring a Lot, which was submitted on May 1, is code assessable. It is also subject to review by the State Assessment and Referral Agency.
Sunshine Coast News attempted to contact Tricare for comment but did not receive a response.
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